Aberson pleads freedom of opinion
Aberson pleads freedom of opinion
JAKARTA (JP): The Constitution guarantees legislators the
right to criticize and express different opinions to the
president's and other supreme state institutions', says a
legislator accused of defaming President Soeharto.
Police questioning of a legislator for stating a different
opinion violated the 1945 Constitution, Aberson Marle Sihaloho
said yesterday while delivering his defense statement at the
Central Jakarta District Court.
After the statement, his lawyers requested that all charges
against him be dropped for lack of evidence.
Aberson, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI), is accused of defaming the President in his speech at the
PDI headquarters last June.
A "free forum" was held at the headquarters to protest a PDI
congress in Medan last June which toppled Megawati Soekarnoputri
as the party's leader and replaced her with Soerjadi.
In an earlier hearing, prosecutor Y.W. Mere requested that the
court sentence Aberson to 18 months in prison.
Aberson said yesterday that, in a country which upheld
people's sovereignty, legislators' could not carry out their
tasks only within the confines of the House of Representatives or
the People's Consultative Assembly.
"A representative of the people should be able to voice
people's aspirations, and struggle for them wherever and whenever
possible," Aberson said.
He then criticized the current political and legal systems
which made legislators the representatives of parties rather than
the people.
He said the factions in the House were organized to function
only as an extension of the party leaders. He cited the mechanism
which enabled party leaders to dismiss their legislators from the
House as part of this organization.
"As soon as one is elected a House member, his main duty is to
fully represent the people," he said.
At the end of his defense statement, Aberson said that he was
hurt because the prosecutor had accused him of giving conflicting
and confusing statements.
"How could justice and fact be obtained if I had kept silent
and just agreed with everything in the indictment," Aberson said.
He said he was amazed that he had been called "a legislator
who gave people a bad example" because he had stated facts and
told the truth.
"So, what kind of legislator can be considered a fit role
model for people? Should it be one who allows the country to fail
to uphold people's sovereignty, democracy and freedom based on
the 1945 Constitution?," he said to great cheers from court
visitors.
Aberson's team of lawyers, led by Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan, said
the defendant should be freed of all charges not only because of
insufficient evidence, but also because he was only exercising
his constitutional rights and duties. (05)